Thursday, September 05, 2013

Claudia Jones the great community organiser and committed trade unionist stated at the launch of the first Notting Hill Carnival on 30th January 1959 that

"A people's art is the genesis of their freedom"

The first British Caribbean carnival was held at St Pancras Town Hall as an act of defiance, to local fascists who encouraged by Osward Mosley and local Teddy boy thugs had launched a wave of violent attacks upon the black community in Notting Hill area of west London, culminating in the racist Notting Hill riots and later the murder by a white racist gang of a 32 year old Antiguan carpenter, Kelso Cochrane in Golborne Roard, NW10.

The first carnival included many cultural acts including Calypso singers, dancing, Cleo Laine (with Mike McKenzie) and the Trinidad Hummingbirds Steel Band.